LETTERS: NORTH COUNTY, FEB. 14, 2013

Reading the Second Amendment

Bruce Thompson (“The Second Amendment is obsolete,” Feb. 2) finally agrees that the Second Amendment, as referenced in the Federalist Papers, is to prevent tyranny.

J. Howard Crews (“A well-regulated militia is key,” Feb. 2) exemplifies a typical liberal misunderstanding of the “first four words” of the amendment (“A well regulated militia”). It means to properly maintain, not regulate through government edict. This is clear in the last four words, “shall not be infringed,” which virtually all liberals ignore.

Thompson has changed his argument. Thompson now cites his military son’s opinion that the Second Amendment is obsolete. Chillingly, his son may have forgotten his oath of service includes, “defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.”

Thompson, calling Second Amendment advocates “gun nuts,” thinks the people are no match for the U.S. military. That’s what the standing army of the time, the British, thought. He implies that we should be rid of private gun ownership because we are outgunned. He has stumbled on the reason for those “first four words,” as Crews put it.

We should thank Thompson’s son for his service, remind him of his oath (the reason for his service) and hope he will improve from a marksman to a sharpshooter or maybe even expert.

Daniel Prinzing

Encinitas

Second Amendment isn’t about hunting

Barack Obama has succeeded in dividing America like no time since the Civil War. By following Rahm Emanuel’s assertion to “never let a good crisis go to waste,” Obama has turned a tragedy into a crisis to subvert the Second Amendment and to deny Americans their God-given right of self-defense.

But Obama’s hostile assault on the Constitution is actually serving as a smoke screen to cover up scandals such as U.S. gunrunning to Mexican drug cartels, the unanswered Benghazi attack and the Fort Hood massacre by a radical Islamist that the administration casually dubbed “workplace violence.”

It’s obvious that the current gun grab hysteria is not only making Americans uneasy and unsafe, it’s also buying time to divert attention away from Obama’s leadership failures, now driving America toward gun confiscation and an economic collapse threatening national security.

Obama learned his lessons well from his radical mentors. He won re-election, not by leadership, but by bullying and demonizing his opponents, just as he and the media will demonize the National Rifle Association, the tea party or any American patriot who dares to challenge Obama.

The founders knew there would be despots like Obama; that’s why they wrote the Second Amendment as a deterrent to tyranny.

Darrell Beck

Ramona

Enact gun control laws that don’t interfere with Second Amendment

Many gun owners seem responsible enough to accept gun control laws that don’t interfere with Second Amendment rights to join a state militia or other legitimate purposes. A law that registers guns and licenses owners, like car registration and driver licensing, might be acceptable.

Registry would help retrieve lost or stolen guns and facilitate background checks. Owners could sell guns privately by transfer of ownership, like a car, but transacted at a state office or at a gun fair by authorized dealers, where the buyer’s background is checked.